Sri Lankan shares close largely flat

Sri Lankan shares closed nearly unchanged on Monday as investors awaited national inflation data. The CSE All Share index settled up 0.04% at 23,783.02. Industrial Asphalts and Kerner Haus Global were the top percentage gainers on the CSE All Share index, rising 25% and 24.2%, respectively. Sri Lanka’s consumer prices climbed 2.4% year-on-year in January, after rising 2.9% in December, the statistics department said on Monday. Trading volume on the CSE All Share index fell to 97.4 million shares from 138.8 million in the previous session. The equity market’s turnover fell to 2.56 billion Sri Lankan rupees ($8.28 million) from 3.89 billion rupees in the previous session, according to exchange data. Foreign investors were net sellers, offloading stocks worth 87 million rupees, while domestic investors were net buyers, purchasing shares worth 2.53 billion rupees, the data showed.